Why it matters: Huffman is now the first parent to be sentenced of 34 charged in the admissions scandal led by consultant William Singer. The federal investigation, dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues," characterized the scheme as involving corrected admissions test scores, falsified student achievements and disabilities and bribed college coaches and administrators at prominent universities.

Context: Huffman was charged for paying $15,000 in 2017 to have her daughter's SAT score secretly corrected. In May, Huffman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. Earlier this month, she wrote in a letter to the federal judge presiding over her case that she consulted Singer for a year but did not know the scheme existed.

The amount Huffman paid is relatively low compared to other bribes alleged in the scheme.

The college admissions scandal involved at least $25 million, 750 families and went on from 2011 to early 2019.

Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, recently pleaded not guilty to their roles in the scheme.

The schools involved included Yale University, Wake Forest University, the University of San Diego, Stanford University, Georgetown University, the University of Texas, the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles.

What's next: "The case is seen as an indicator of what’s to come for others charged in the case. Over the next two months, nearly a dozen other parents are scheduled to be sentenced after pleading guilty. A total of 15 parents have pleaded guilty, while 19 are fighting the charges," per the AP.

Most middle-class parents view paying for college as a moral obligation, not just a budgetary challenge, according to new research by New York University associate professor Caitlin Zaloom, the New York Times reports.

Driving the news: Even when money isn't a problem, Operation Varsity Blues illustrates that some parents will go to great, possibly illegal lengths to secure the "right" school for their children. Wealthy parents — dentistry professors, doctors, executives, actors and lawyers — funded what the DOJ has called the biggest admissions scam in U.S. history, to secure spots for their kids at the University of Texas, Yale, Georgetown and other schools.

What they found: Zaloom argues that paying for college complicates how parents save for their own futures and how they pay for their children's development. Coming up with the cash to pay for college can deplete parents' retirement funds and drop them out of the middle class.

Through 160 interviews with college students and their parents over 7 years, Zaloom found that parents and their children will "prioritize the 'right' school — and then find ways to meet the cost, no matter what it takes," per the NYT.

Zaloom argues that this pressure to get kids into college has "fundamentally changed the experience of being middle class" in the U.S.

The research also resulted in the notion of "social speculation," wherein parents wager money today, betting their children's education will secure them a future space in the middle class.

The big picture: The cost of going to public or private school has been ratcheting up for decades. Zaloom writes in the NYT that the average yearly cost of attending an American university totals $50,000, while less than 5% of Americans have college savings accounts. Meanwhile, the Fed says student loans are smothering the housing market and more Democratic 2020 candidates are campaigning on the promise of tuition-free college.